Tag: Thomas copleston

Brixton English belonged to the family of English, and passed on to the Bonvilles and then the Coplestons of Bowden. After the death of Thomas Copleston in 1753 it was purchased by The Veal family, and then the Rev Richard Lane.

I rode to Chudleigh, and from thence Mr Staplehill, Mr Estchurch and myself rode to Yampton [The Coplestones were owners of Coffleet and Bowden, in Yealmpton Parish] to Mr Copleston’s, where we stayed all night. Our business was about marriage for Mr Staplehill. In the morning Mr Estchurch and myself went to bowls with Mr Wood, and L.C., I won then 4s 6d. At night I came to Riddon.

Bowden Farm lies on the hill to the north of Yealmpton. In the records it is referred to as Bowdon, Boudon and Bowden, and the name of the Copplestone family to whom it originally belonged varies too.

It seems that the farm was so called by Walter Coplestone who named it after his wife, Elizabeth de Bowden, when he purchased the farm in the mid-fifteenth century. Walter died in 1457.

The written records do not stretch back as far as this, but we have brief references to John Coplestone of Bowden, Lord of the Manor of Brixton English about 1552, to another John Copples-ton of Bowden in 1684, and to Thomas Copleston of Bowdon in 1720.